Opposites Attract Pt 2- (Spirit Animals)
by SilverConstellation
Summary: Ever wondered what would happen if Rollan got taken by the Conquerors, rather than Abeke? Well this story answers it all, whether you know Spirit Animals or not! What will happen when he falls in love with a girl named Meilin ... on the enemy's side? Pt. 1 belongs to bridgeybear04, so make sure that you read it!:D Disclaimer: I do not own the original idea of this story, nor S.A.
1. Golden Choice

Essix woke up indignantly to Rollan's heavy footsteps, and thought, "And you thought that thieves were supposed to be quiet." Rather than seeing Rollan himself walk in, he was groggily being held by an older guard by the wrists, wincing with pain from his unforgiving hold.

"Now you should learn not to steal any more rations than everyone gets from the kitchen!" roared the ill-tempered guard as he shoved Rollan back into his cell, slamming the door after him. "Lucky kid," he mumbled as he stomped back up the stairs.

"Ha. Who says he's lucky when he's got me?" laughed Essix, sending loud caws into the air as she ruffled her feathers, looking for more mischief.

"Essix, I told you to be quiet or I'd get in trouble," lamented Rollan, "Anyway, they searched me, but not that well. They missed the stuff in my boots. Here, I got you something extra, after I ran into the kitchen the second time."

Essix retreated to the other side of the rusty cage, away from the loaf of meat that Rollan gently set down for her. "Um, ya, I don't want your charity that you've been stepping on with your sweaty foot for the last half of the hour," she thought indignantly.

Instead of seeing Rollan's face fall as she expected, he seemed to know how Essix felt, and responded, "Aw, don't worry, I kept it above my ankle."

Essix relented to her caring partner, but thought, "That doesn't really help, but I'm hungry," she thought as she gulped the whole chunk of meat down entirely.

"Hmph, and your efforts haven't gone unnoticed," congratulated someone in his rich, dignified voice.

Essix spun around and squawked in terror, but covered... well tried to cover her beak with her wings for uttering a sound when she wasn't supposed too.

Rollan jumped off the edge of the bed and fell onto the hard, fractured, stone floor in shock. "Oof!" he cried, but then hurriedly shoved his boot back on as he pulled his mouth to a guilty, embarassed smile.

It was Zerif, but he wasn't alone. Next to Zerif stood a blond, young boy, a bit shorter than Rollan, looking meekly onward. Zerif noticed where both Rollan's and Essix's gazes were directed at, and cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. My mistake not to introduce him first. Meet my good nephew, Shane."

"More like servant!" Rollan spat, looking at the timid boy's face.

Zerif shot him an irate look, but waved his "comment" away. A wolverine bounded down the stairs and snarled at Rollan and Essix, then circled around Shane protectively while Shane patted him, and shook his mane.

Before Rollan's quick tongue could even ask why Zerif was really even here to see him, Zerif got to the basic details. "So," he continued, "You've finally demonstrated one of your talents. With a bit of training, it could improve greatly. Now I'm assigning you to a mission with Shane here. He will be your partner once you begin to face the dangers, but for a good purpose."

Shane smiled and waved, as he sent Renneg, his wolverine, to fetch something upstairs for him.

"I won't punish you yet," said Zerif, "But you will have to do us some favors for in return. Shane will explain, as he'll give you some of the Conqueror's scraps." With that, Zerif proudly left the room as if he had just been promoted.

Just as Zerif disappeared from their view, Shane tossed a brown sack he had at Rollan's feet. The bag was patched in several places, and fell open in front of Rollan, who gaped in awe.

"Man," Rollan thought, "I should've stolen from the junkyard rather than the kitchen!" As an orphan, Rollan had never seen this much food in his life. It wasn't just the normal stew scraps they had, but also baked goods like cinnamon buns that were untouched.

At that moment, Essix decided to be reckless, and picked the lock of the cage with her talons, right in front of the two boys, and began pecking at the large amount of lettuce leaves and corn bits.

Almost instantly, Essix and Rollan began bickering intensely for the cinnamon buns as Shane explained their mission... to retrieve Arax's talisman. Rollan still didn't understand the purpose of this, "But why do we need all the talismans to save the world? I'm not ready for... hey Essix!" Just as Rollan almost finished speaking, Essix had stolen the last cinnamon bun from his hand.

Shane, the golden-haired boy, sighed as Rollan dived at cackling Essix, and said, "Rollan, do you know what happens to those unfortunate ones who bond without the Nectar?"

"Ya," Rollan paused, and looked down forlornly. He knew exactly what would happen, for his mother did not bond with Nectar around his age, and they both ended up suffering traumatizing consequences. He remembered sitting on the stone steps of his little home as his mother once again shrieked madly and pounded her fists at the brick walls of his house, as her raven shrieked uncontrollably at the top of its lungs in an unmeasurable amount of pain. What he unfortunately remembered most was when he awoke one night out of pain. It felt as if a snake's fangs was biting into his neck, and he tried to call out, but found that his neck and voice was actually being crushed by his mother's hand unknowingly. It seemed like time was being slowed, and at last, she let go of her cruel grasp to find him covered in tears. From there on... she had ... let him go... to another home, but he found himself as an orphan instead.

"Exactly," replied Shane, looking at Rollan's pained face, "The Greencloaks took the Nectar and monopolized it. They used all that lived in Stetriol as scapegoats. They wiped us off every map, and refused to provide us with Nectar. You know the horrors of bonding without Nectar, now think about this entire place without Nectar," Shane looked as if he was on the verge of tears, "And this is why we need the talismans, to destroy that monopoly, to free our people from this horror. I and Renneg, my wolverine here, were one of the lucky ones to live. The Conquerors came to us and gave my family the cure to it, the Bile. They saved us, and this is why we're in debt to them."

Rollan nodded, he could sense no lies in that, but he still felt a small sense of distrust from Essix. He knew though that without the Nectar, he could've ended up like his mother, but he also thought, that it was an overkill to need all of the talismans, but whatever it took to destroy the monopoly. Somewhere in his mind, he was getting excited, "Could they save his mother in time? In... in time before... he would never see her again?" He broke out of his thought, as he made a revolted face at the agonizing taste of the lettuce, "Alright," Rollan replied, staring up at the golden-haired boy, "We'll help."

Essix squawked in utter shock, "They were going to help the Conquerors?! The ones who killed the Four Fallen during the last Devourer War?!"


	2. Shipment for Disaster

**Dedications:** This chapter is dedicated to LionRulersRoar and Landshark23498. Thank you very much! You both helped my determination climb through to create the next two chapters!

Before he knew it, Rollan was slapped on the back, and haphazardly tossed into a ship, heading back for Amaya. He would've stayed in his amazing, fancy bedroom, but being jostled against the wall by the rough tides was too much for a guy who was stuck on the dusty streets all his life. Rollan halfheartedly wished that he should've stayed where he was, and declined his recruiting even though it wasn't right, but one could say that he was kidnapped and put into this though.

Essix meanwhile was swooping over the great, blue sea when an unlucky fish decided to hop out and take a breath. She dived, and then tugged out the fish, only to find that a dark bird had the other side of it. Both birds squawked in surprise and anguish. Essix sneered, if a bird could sneer, and knew that this poor, little bird had no chance against battle with her.

Rollan watched both birds claw at each others in midair. He attempted to tell what type of bird it was that Essix was battling, but gave up as the salty wind caused his eyes to scream. At last, Essix won the clash and as the other bird flew off... with the fish tail, she triumphantly did a happy dance, sending Rollan into hysterical laughter. Rollan envied Essix's energized mood and leered her, but Essix glared back playfully and only seemed to enjoy it.

"Jealous of my bird wings?" Essix cackled, and flapped them daintily. She then began pecking at her fresh food for the first time in weeks. Being trapped in that bird cage with a scarf around her beak was one of the worst moments of her life! How little she could do at being at an almost normal size! The memories flashed back to her as she once soared over the sky, blocking the sun like a cloud with her abnormally enormous size, and racing that undignified eagle, Halawir, to pick up the first swordfish without a wound.

"The wounds?" she cackled, "They were like paper cuts to us." She stretched her lengthy muscles from their weary slumber. Essix embraced her freedom... until a sailor disturbed her rather large snacktime.

"Hey, shoo, ya feather ball! I've taken a mighty long time untangling these ropes and thanks to you, I might have to clean up your mess!"

"Is this how you treat _The Falcon?"_ regarded Shane, who prowled up behind the sailor, sending him into agitation as Essix took off into the air furiously.

After Shane lectured the man, Rollan watched Essix squawk angrily several times, and after she managed to finish her enormous lunch, she came back, hunted for the gruff man, and hurled the fish bone at him. Rollan laughed as Essix screeched in delight at the sailor's fury. Essix then returned to Rollan and nudged him, just as Shane came over for their usual training lessons.

Rollan winced at the thought of more training, but also at Essix's sharp talons digging into his flesh like spears. He lied down against the ship, preparing for the demand... until he heard Shane's panic stricken voice yell, "Man overboard!" He looked up at the alarmed faces as Essix fluttered in shock and dove at him with incredible speed. Rollan just stared in confusion... until he tried to get up, but realized he was not on solid ground. He'd been catapulted overboard by the thunderous waves and was going to belly flop! Essix attempted to claw her talons into the hem of his shirt, but unfourtunately, it ripped, and he plunged into the water... belly first.

 _SPLASH!_

"Ooo... That's gotta hurt," commented Shane, "You alright down there?"

"I can't swim, but you got one thing right, Shane," Rollan hollered, "When you said 'Man overboard,' that's right, I'm a man. Not boy."

Essix flapped overhead and cawed teasingly in her bird language, "Okay, _boy_. Do you need a doctor or a therapist?"


	3. The Ravens

**Author's Note** : Thank you so much for reaching to here! I apologize that I have not been able to update due to my workload, but check my profile for sneak peeks of chapters or my surprise that's also based on Spirit Animals! If you've also read The Dragon's Eye, the most recent book of Spirit animals, then I have a sequel of it, filled with predictions on the next series. So make sure that you check it out, especially if you want another bit of Reilin!

Melin rode on her horse like a natural. Everyone else did too, but she did better. Even though her horse was a former spirit animal that became snappy, she handles it like a general versus a meek soldier.

Monte and Barlow, two retired greencloaks, had finally re-joined. She was unable to tell through some of their lies and tricks, but after their good… meeting, they had agreed. I had taken Briggan to chase them down, but otherwise, she'dve liked to end this with a good fight.

"Turn right," Monte commanded. Tarik nodded, just before an arrow flew out of the air and gave him a bald spot! "Turn right to get the _right_ haircut," joked Barlow, keeping his jokes up.

Tarik shouted an order for battle before Conor sent Briggan off and Abeke was thrown off her horse while attempting to reach for her arrows. Barlow summoned for his bear as Monte's spirit animal was shot on the tail and it instantly closed its eyes, sending Monte into a flurry of anxiety.

"Hi-ya!" shouted Meilin, kicking her horse into the battle. An arrow flew through the clearing at her face, but she caught it with her teeth! She bashed a hooded foe with the hilt of her sword, before using her horse to kick someone out of the way. Arrows whizzed, but Meilin gracefully leapt in the air and ran on top of the arrows like stairs before swinging around on a tree and knocking out three more foes. She landed perfectly and stood there, searching for the next victim with her raging eyes before a blade cut into her hip behind her, and before she could throw a punch at the wielder of the blade, she fainted… from the sleeping remedy.

Meilin awoke to Abeke nudging her.

"Hey, hey, you awake?"

Meilin groaned in response from her daze and Abeke said, "Nice fight you put up out there."

Meilin thought, "That was typical, but we lost anyway." Then she barked back, "Nice job falling off your horse!"

"Hey that was a mistake. I think that I pricked my poor horse with one of my arrows, but nice loss in the battle."

"Well nice job helping us lose! If you shot the guy down then…"

Conor cried, "Girls, girls. That is enough! Good job to both of you for splitting us even further.

We're supposed a team. We're supposed to work this out, and both of you aren't making it any better!"

Abeke dropped her head in shame as tarik saw a glint of leadership in Conor. Meilin just huffed out a big puff of air and hopped back into place where she originally sat on. "What a waste of my time!" she thought in her rage, "I could be home right now and make a spectacular fight besides my father, but no, I have to be here as Zhong falls!" Her arms ached from being tied against the dark totem pole, but not for much longer. A bell clanged at the center of the large village.

The people gathered near where a large ring was painted, surrounded by a few trees and a large jar of an ink-like substance. Meilin wriggled in her spot. She could barely make it out, but it was like a fighting stadium at home, except the ground here was just plain dirt, while at home, her trainers dusted it with powdered chalk, causing it to be slipperier.

"I hope it's a battle of strength," Barlow commented, "I can give it to them if they want."

A chiefly figure appeared as the villagers parted out of the way. "Intruders," he boomed, "Hurt our people, yet we, the Ravens, give you our mercy. You though, shall have to earn your freedom only by a battle of agility. In this ring, a champion from both teams must mark the other opponent ten times. No spirit animals are allowed out, and if you step out of the ring, you are immediately forfeit. If you win, you are free to go."

"And if we lose?" questioned Tarik, his new shaved spot glimmering in the sunlight.

"Then you stay…" threatened the chief

Monte remarked, "So it's freedom or slavery. Hospitality? Pah! We only skirted the edge of their land and here we are!"

"Well, they did bind up Meilin's wound," replied Tark honestly, causing Meilin to look down at her bandaged hip and scowl pathetically at herself.

"But who's our champion?" questioned Conor, "Monte and Barlow, no offense, but this isn't your style."

Immediately, chatter broke out between everyone and ended with this: "I think I should go," volunteered Tarik.

"No I should!" cried Meilin, "I have experience, I've…"

"But you're just a rookie. It's our job to defend you kids," Monte answered.

"But if we lose…"

"Better off us than you."

There was no use in arguing. No one would root for her, and she bit her lip as Tarik entered the ring along with the Raven's champion. They dipped their fists into the pot of dark goo, showing each mark made on an opponent vividly. As soon as they both entered the ring, the battle had begun.

The Raven bantered, "Nice bald spot," just as Tarik made his first mark on him.

Meilin thought, "Nice trip-up. Now here's someone who needed a mentor."

Next, Tarik swung twice, but one was dodged, and he returned to his side with two new marks on his arm.

"No! He's baiting you to use your energy!" thought Meilin.

Again and again, Tarik was punched till he was forced to stay opposite of the Raven in the circle.

8 to 4, the odds were against them without Lumeo, Tarik's spirit animal. The Raven bounded over to the other side abruptly like a gazelle, swung his leg out causing Tarik to leap over it, but before Tarik could land, the Raven bruised his arm, swung a punch at his chest, and sent Tarik flying out of the circle. The tenth hit… _and_ Tarik was a full, clear meter out of the circle.

"No!" cried Conor.

"Tarik!" squeaked Abeke.

"He tried his best," uttered Monte gravely as Barlow nodded.

"NO!" cried Meilin defiantly, and she sprang to her feet, still bound, roundhouse-kicked a guard, and as his sword fell, she let it slice her knotted rope perfectly in half. Before she knew it, she was already bounding across the alleys towards the barbed fence. Troops tumbled after her, as she stood on top of the thorned fence and looked back at the others.

"Go!" shouted Tarik, seeing her turmoil, "Go! We'll be fine! There's no going back now. Better one leave than all get punished. For Arax's talisman!"

"For Erdas!" cried the rest of the Greencloaks together before Meilin turned to leave just as a pike struck the fence.


	4. The Pact and Shcool

Rollan clambered up the steep mountain. When his armor squeaked for the hundredth time, he wished that he hadn't chosen the metal suit instead of the leather suit. Meanwhile, Essix squawked above saying, "Lucky me, I have feathers." as Rollan staggered from a loose rock falling and tumbling down onto someone's helmet.

"Hey!" a gruff voice cried out in anguish.

"Sorry," mumbled Rollan, who then turned to Essix and said, "But unlucky you, you have a big mouth."

"Well, Rollan, you do too for goodness sake, and it's a beak, not a mouth. Go back to school, junior."

"I don't have a school."

"Exactly, this is why you would spell, school as _shcool_."

"Give me a break, will ya, Essix?"

"It's not recess yet."

"You're not my teacher, you're my partner."

"...hmmm… but I do have wings."

Rollan grumbled at Essix's remark as he finally reached the crest of the mountain. He looked at the scenery and gasped in awe. Emerald green leaves towered above him as trees that seemed to be centuries old, stood healthy yet large. Thickets of thorns lined some paths, making it impassable, but there was a passageway in the center that was large enough for a few to cross at a time. "Wow, how does it feel to see this from above," he thought, thinking about how Essix had seen this before they could. Then, he felt a tingling thought of what Essix was thinking in response.

Essix told him, "Well then, I'll show you then, Student. That is, if you call me, Teacher."

"Haha, that's tempting, but there's no way that I'd call you, Teacher."

"You just did, Student."

Before Rollan knew it, he felt his mind become lighter, if it was suddenly lifted by air, and the next thing he knew, he was swimming above plains of green. "Aaaaaaaahhhh!" he screamed. He was flying— no, Essix was. He could see his body down there, screaming as the other troops looked at him as if he had ants in his pants. How was he up here?

"Rollan, Rollan, Rollan," laughed Essix, " _This_ is how it feels."

Rollan could feel Essix stretch her wings and bob in the air as the emerald green twinkled below him. Then, he saw the only part that wasn't touched by any greenery, only a dead tree that seemed to be older than the rest of all. It was a huge plateau of rock that stretched about half a mile from above. Then, just as he completed that observation, Essix set his mind back in his original place. He blinked, once, twice, and on the third time, cries erupted from in front of him, just as their army had arrived at the plateau. He looked to his left to see his partner, Shane, next to him, but Shane had already disappeared. Troops were flying in every direction from overhead. Battle cries erupted as cries of anguish cut the peaceful silence in the air.

"What is goin…" he said, but before he could finish his sentence, he saw a blur rush through a line of troops, and then, with his lingering, slightly-enhanced sight from Essix, his eyes somehow slow-motioned it, and he saw a girl rush up to him, in front of his face. Before he could marvel at her dark eyes, and gleaming, raven-black hair, he had been sent into the air like the others by a harsh kick at the chin. Then, he just watched the clouds above him sail by as he flew chest up.

"I'd rather see the forest than the sky!" cried Rollan as his head hit… air? He felt a whoosh of air rush past from _above_ him.

"I caught you," cackled Essix, who had caught him by his shirt from inside his armor. She then set him down on a branch and used her talons to pat his hair. "Now, go. Fight! Teacher didn't raise you to stare at the worms. You gotta' rip them out like grass!"

"What's grass?" Rollan asked, for he had seen grass, but never knew what it was called.

"For goodness sakes, just go!" cawed Essix, "That is… if you can finish my lesson of climbing off this tree."

Rollan looked down and shrieked. How high did Essix put him?! He shouted at Essix, "Just, _please_ get me down from here. This isn't a joke! There- There's a girl and she's ramming down the entire army has we speak!"

"Look on the bright side, pal," Essix only replied, "If you don't get down, then you don't have to get your butt kicked again. If you do get down though, consider this as a sign that I believe that you like her, since you worked so hard to get down."

"WHAT?! Essix, I don't! C'mon now, the Conquerors are depending on us! We need to get that talisman!"

"No, they don't need _us_. They need _you_. Only you agreed to put yourself in this situation, so you get out of it. Just like how you slipped out of every situation until they tossed you into the jail cell and then you met me! Thought you would get a rat instead, eh?"

Rollan sighed in defeat. There was no arguing against that, nor was there a point anymore. He had depended on himself before, but now he needed to gain Essix's trust— by falling, no, climbing a thousand feet. He stared into Essix's amber eyes and whispered, "You'll catch me if I fall, right?"

Essix just cocked her head to one side and sprung into the air with a burst of speed.

"Great," thought Rollan, before he began descending. "C'mon, Rollan," he told himself, "Don't look down. Whatever you do, don't look down. Besides, you've had to steal pies from the wealthy before, right?"

At the sound of another cry from a troop, Rollan's nerves seized up. It sounded just like when the militia caught him stealing and he his mind made him let go, as he would if he was on the streets. "Nnnnnooooo!" he cried, when he realized that he had let go of his grip. He tumbled past the brambles and boughs of the trees, and he could already feel his body crumple at the mere touch of the dirt below, but instead…

 _Fwump! Squish!_

"OUCH! Get off of me, Jhi!" screeched an angry voice, "You're suffocating me!"

Jhi just groaned though, in her calm, panda speech. Then she rolled off, and was summoned back into a tattoo immediately. Thanks to that though, Rollan, who had landed on Jhi, tumbled to the rocky ground of Erdas' mountains.

"YOU!" the girl with jet-black hair shrieked, "Shush!"

"Huh? Why? I just met…" But before Rollan could finish his words, a shadow towered above them and covered the sun. It was an over-sized ram.

Its fur was a pure cream color, and his horns rose high above his bushy eyebrows and spiraled.

"Too late," mumbled the girl, her voice holding a hint of fear in it.

"So, Meilin. You have failed me," The Great Ram uttered, "You, the summoner of Jhi, failed to get rid of the enemies, and now, you, are also an enemy. You lied! As I had said, if you could prove that you were strong enough to rage through a whole army, then you have proven yourself worthy, but you have not. For this boy right here has just brought you to me."

"Wait, what?! I did?" exclaimed Rollan in both surprise and confusion.

"Wait?! I'm not done yet. He didn't bring you to me, I was just…"

"Stop trying to lie! You shall pay for all your crimes. Right here. Right now," grunted The Ram mercilessly, "You made a deal," he finished, his eyes narrowed into slits.

Rollan could've lied or admitted the truth to get him and this pretty girl out of this mess, but that huge ram permitted him with no time at all. Arax, the Great Ram, bowed down his great, furry head, aimed his horns charged.


	5. Discord

**Dedications:** Thanks to Laney (LionRulersRoar) for being an amazing friend, especially when I needed it. Then, thank you to all of those who have stuck with Opposite Spirits for so long! Keep on reading and I'll put more Reilin together (but maybe not in this chapter). ;)

The Ram's charge seemed to be unstoppable. Rollan tried to dive out of the way as Essix shrieked… in anguish? Rollan couldn't believe his ears, Essix was actually cared about him? He was paralyzed by this thought, before being bumped out of the way. Then, the Great Ram's hoof had crushed the ground, where he had been a second ago. Rollan gasped with shock, "You- you just saved my life!"

Meilin wanted to retort that it was by mistake. At the same time though, she didn't want to witness death again, af- after what she had seen while escaping Zhong. Her heart plummeted to her stomach at that thought. How was her father doing? Was he… was he… dead? "NO, Meilin," she told herself, "He's fine, he can take care of himself."

A Niloan girl appeared into view below the vast cliff at the edge of the emerald-green forest.

"It was Abeke!" Meilin realized, but her bewilderment was short-lived for Abeke had shouted in panic, "Meilin, watch out!"

Meilin reacted, but faced the wrong way, before her hands were grabbed and she was tossed into the air like a bird. She shrieked, but immediately caught herself. How dare she for looking so terrified! She looked into the Amayan boy's eyes with both shock and incredulity.

Rollan looked into her eyes (and his face turned red) before saying, "You did save my life. Err… and so your name is Meilin?"

Meilin grumbled, not sure whether to show her appreciation or her annoyance at an improper introduction. She wanted to tell him right there that it was by accident, but before she could open her mouth to speak, the Ram was already charging back towards them. She tossed him into the air just hurled him into the air this time, and they ended up taking turns just tossing each others into the air like a tetherball. They ignored the fact that they were both enemies, while Essix was up in the air, laughing and forgetting the fact that she was supposed to fight.

"What are you two doing?" she laughed, "School Dance Night, eh?"

Rollan was busy saving this fierce girl's life, but he was able to catch a Niloan girl get rushed by an oversized leopard.

The Ram screeched to a stop and cried, "NO!" Abeke was after the talisman. She had taken longer than she wanted as the battle between the Greencloaks and Conquerors raged on, but she had reached it.

Rollan collapsed from exhaustion as Meilin toppled to the ground. "You're- you're heavy," blurted blatantly.

"Heavy?!" she shrieked. This was not how peasants treated a general's daughter! Her outrage was short-lived when she saw Abeke dash back, her hands clutching… the Granite Ram of Arax! Just then, a shadow crossed her face. She looked up, a vampire bat dived for Abeke's face as Zerif shouted, "No, the talisman. Get that idiotic bat of yours…"

"It's not idiotic!" retorted the woman, who was clearly the owner of the bat.

Meilin watched in fear as she saw a falcon with amber eyes dive, but wait, _The_ Falcon was on the enemies' side! She picked up a stone and aimed. This was the only good for tossing here. It had to collide with both the falcon and the bat, regardless of what happened. She aimed carefully and hurled it with all of her strength.

"Wait! Not Essix!" that Amayan boy cried and jumped into the air.

Rollan felt a whoosh of energy soar into him, and he saw himself leap higher than he had ever before. He faced the small stone, and caught it, after it hit the bat, and was about to bounce off and onto Essix. He landed gracefully on both feet. He saw a blond, adult Greencloak exclaim, "Amazing!" and then to the Niloan girl, "Abeke, you saw that? You don't need Uraza this time, because you have the talisman. Use it!"

Abeke stared and didn't understand how to use it. She tried rubbing it like a genie in a lamp like in stories, but when she saw The Ram charge towards her, she saw the chain and threw it around her neck. She jumped from ledge to ledge and even skipped a few steps. She stumbled on a rock and landed— in the middle of the battlefield.

"Oof!" she cried as she collided with a blond-haired Conqueror. She stared into his blue eyes before dashing off at immense speed. She turned, it was rude of her not to say ' _sorry.'_ "S-sorry about that," she uttered, before refusing to risk the talisman again. Suddenly, the chain of the talisman was grabbed from behind, and she was choked by it. "Oh no," she thought, "Arax must be behind me!" She kicked as she was strangled and as the heavy chain turned tighter around her neck. It twisted even more, and she was forced to turn around. It wasn't the Ram, but the man who had bickered with the lady about her "pathetic" vampire bat. She would've screamed when a jackal bit into her bicep, but she was almost out of air as her throat contorted and writhed with pain. Blood spurted out of her wounded leg and stained her outfit, the only thing that she brought from Nilo. Her father wouldn't let her take anything else from the village besides her clothing, bow, quiver, and arrows, which were her only reminders of home. He did have a point though, for their village was short on supplies, and especially rain. Abeke was meant to be their new rain dancer until she was fetched by the Greencloaks and taken to Greenhaven.

Uraza had now caught up, after avoiding the Ram's charges and bit the jackal, causing him to release its bite on Abeke. Uraza snapped at the jackal and chased after it viciously for hurting Abeke, before a shadow was cast on Abeke before Conor screamed, "Look out Abeke!"

Abeke swerved and she saw the dark-haired man who owned the jackal heave an axe above her head, and sent it down towards Abeke's skull.


	6. Burying the Hatchet or Swallowing it

Abeke screamed as the axe came down closer and closer to her head. She threw her arms in front of herself as she had nowhere to run. One step forward, and the talisman around her neck might make her bound up too high and she'd have the axe lodged in her head faster than she would like.

A roar suddenly shook the ground as the crackling of the splitting of a century-old tree could be heard as it tumbled to the ground and had its leaves brush against other trees' leaves. A massive crocodile appeared in front of Abeke and before this vile man could bring his axe down all the way against Abeke, the crocodile swung its nuzzle against the man, sending him flying backwards as his axe flew towards Abeke freely.

"And I'm still going to get butchered," thought Abeke glumly as the axe flew towards her.

Abruptly, the mega-sized crocodile suddenly caught the axe in the midst of its flight with its jaws, and swallowed the weapon whole!

"That looks pretty yummy," snickered Essix sarcastically as she swooped overhead Rollan and his pretty girl, named Meilin.

Conor suddenly came into view and attempted to stab the scaly, swamp beast in the eye with the hilt of his own axe. He yelled frantically while Briggan was snarling at a jackal, "Go, Abeke! I'll buy you some time, and don't worry about me!"

Abeke stood up after a near-death experience and stumbled over the rocky terrain that was covered in moist, dead leaves. Suddenly, the blond-haired boy who she had apologized to earlier seized her by the wrist and took her on a perilous sprint.

This new boy shouted, "General Gar is here! The Devourer…"

"Wait," said Abeke as she finally got her trembling legs to work and break into a run with him, "Who's General Gar? That man back there who tried to behead me earlier?"

"No," he responded, "That was Zerif, and I'm so sorry that he tried to do that. He's my uncle and he can treacherous when he's angry."

Abeke replied, "No need to be sorry for something that someone else did."

"Thanks," said the blond-haired boy, half-smiling, "Anyway, if that croc is here, than the Devourer is too. We have to get out of here or it'll be the worse for you."

Abeke looked back and gulped. The crocodile was wreaking havoc back there with its impenetrable scales and foot-long teeth. Conor gave a yell before he was buried beneath a mound of falling rocks. "Conor!" yelled Abeke in terror as he disappeared from view. She yanked at this boy's grasp and gasped, "We need to help him!"

"He told you to get away," replied his worried voice firmly, "Don't let it be in vain."

Abeke could feel a few, worried tears coming, but she held them back. This boy was right, and they would die if they went back for Conor. She quickened her pace with a boost from Uraza, her leopard as she put the Granite Ram away. She could dash away faster and leave this new guy in the dust, but he did help her. He did not wear a green cloak, but not all bad guys could be all bad, right? He had pulled her out of there just before the crocodile could swallow her whole, just like that axe that had almost claimed her life.

Abeke decided to keep her pace besides him as she saw Meilin zoom by through a clearing with another dark-haired boy besides her. Then, she learned the blond-haired boy's name just as the crocodile roared in what sounded like pain from behind them. The boy's name was Shane.


	7. Thunder and Rain

Meilin was struggling to keep swinging Rollan away from the Great Beast's charge. She told herself, "C'mon, Meilin, you're strong enough. You can keep this up forever if this guy…" The guy had suddenly seemed to zone out as he grew a bit limp and dreamy-eyed. She muttered, "Great, and now he's probably given up since it's supposed to be his turn to drag me out of the way now." She felt the vibrations of the Ram's thunderous hoofbeats come closer as he charged, and she swung Rollan aside again. Suddenly, this guy seemed to wake up and he suddenly blurted, "I know a way off of here! If you're ever in danger, call me. I'm Rollan."

Meilin laughed, "You know a way off of here? Hah, ya right." She had learned his name whether she wanted to or not, and now he magically knew how to get out of this mess."

He whined, "Hey, my name's not that funny, is it? We just need a bit of time to put my plan into action."

Meilin frowned as she swung him aside for the third time, "Well, times' not something we have right now! And will this Ram ever run out of energy?" Before she could stop herself from being rude, she added, "And I don't need your help. I'm not some damsel in distress!" Meilin blamed herself for saying that, and felt a bit bad, but lamented, "My father is in this war, and he's my last, surviving relative! And this guy… this guy isn't even on our side."

Suddenly, a ferocious roar took away the sounds of battle and a bear appeared next to them. It was one of their Greencloaks' spirit animals! She shouted in surprise, "Barlow! How did you get away from the Ravens? Where are the others?"

Barlow, the burly man, replied, "No time, get out of here while I buy you some time. Don't let it be in vain! You're too young and vital to the plan to die. We won't have a chance in getting the other talismen if you don't make it, so go!" With that, he stopped the Ram's charge by grabbing him by its golden horns as his bear roared and helped push the Great Ram the other way too.

Before Meilin could even come up with a plan, it seemed that Rollan wasn't kidding about having his plan ready as he seemed to have found a way off the plateau though and dragged her off before she could even shout out in surprise. Arax the Ram suddenly gave a mighty heave and was dragging Barlow's spirit animal off to the side of the plateau where the fall would be treacherous! Meilin cried, "No!" With that, she summoned Jhi. "Jhi, go help them!" she ordered. Jhi stared at her with big, silver eyes. There was little hope in stopping the Ram's drive, but Jhi lumbered off to help as she mentally told Meilin, "Go with this guy or you're talents and need shall go to waste."

Rollan abruptly yelled, "Jump!" He shoved Meilin off the plateau and they slid down what seemed like a mile till they hit the back of a tree and groaned with pain. Essix had stopped them from hitting the tree so hard as she was clutching the edges of their garments with her talons and did not seem to be looking for gratitude this time as her beak was drawn seriously. She cawed and got them to get up as Rollan rubbed his head and broke into a small grin as Meilin scowled at his lousy plan.

Before Meilin could turn around to see whether the Great Ram was still following them, she was pulled away from the plateau by Rollan, this crazy guy who had somehow managed to find a way off of that steep place and slide away without having the oversized beast follow them. She barked at him as she attempted to swat him away like a fly, "Stop dragging me by my wrist, Rollan!"

He kept dragging her away though as he ran and ignored her struggles for freedom. He was quite quick for a normal kid, and he couldnt've gotten a land-related boost from an air-related spirit animal. Rollan suddenly realized that Meilin had used his name and pointed it out as he quickened his pace and had them duck through the brush, "Hey, you just used my name. Does that mean something special?" Meilin grumbled and bit her tongue, telling herself to be quiet, when a shadow crossed over them and she looked up. His spirit animal flew overhead and dived and swooped freely within the treetops as she cawed. His spirit animal was a large bird, and she had just noticed that it wasn't some ordinary bird; it was _the_ Falcon. This boy seemed to be communicating with the bird for he was shouting things as the bird couldn't talk, but clicked her beak, so she must've been communicating with him mentally.

Essix flapped her wangs as she mentally urged Rollan, "C'mon, let's go back and take on that crocodile! It's a snack to me."

"And we're a snack to it!" Rollan fired back, "Essix, don't go! Come back now."

Essix was halfway there to battle the crocodile when she instantly felt a terrible urge to go back at Rollan's plea. Reluctantly, she flew back to Rollan as she struggled to seduce the urge of fighting that crocodile, which snapped its jaws at the Great Ram above it, who was now being shoved over the edge. Essix lamented, "C'mon, I really want to… Besides, I'm the teacher here, and you're supposed to be the student. I guess I just have to look after you, little one."

Something whispered to Rollan that Essix would do as he says as Rollan thought that perhaps his spirit animal was just really loyal on the inside. He half-heartedly thanked Essix, "Thanks for looking after me, but I'm not that little, Essix. I mean, I am twice your size."

Meilin snickered at Rollan's retort and looked back to catch a glimpse of Essix's reaction, but saw something much more appalling. Barlow had managed to drag Arax the Ram off the cliff with the help of his bear, whose fur was stained with fresh blood. Arax bellowed in outrage, and managed to entangle Barlow with his twisted horns. Barlow struggled as they both fell off the cliff… and into the jaws of the massive crocodile which waited below them. The crocodile swung his fearsome teeth as he shook the Great Beast and Barlow in its jaws. The scaly reptile stepped on a massive pile of rock before slamming its victims in its jaws against the side of the plateau, causing more scarlet blood to drip out of its jaw.

Meilin stared at this gruesome spectacle. It was just like when she saw her maid die, back when her Nectar Ceremony was attacked. Could there be any chance that Barlow had survived for them? Even though she hated Abeke after arguing with her back when they got captured by the Ravens, she hoped that Abeke had survived after the sacrifice of Barlow. Jools, Barlow's bear, roared in grief as it jumped onto the crocodile in an attempt to save it as the rockpile stirred below the crocodile's feet. Monte, another Greencloak, and his raccoon,  
Scrubber, headed towards the brutal battle as Meilin turned away, withdrawing tears, and headed away with Rollan before a sacrifice went in vain.

Essix cawed tragically overhead, for it seemed that she had seen it too. Meilin suddenly heard thunder crackle over the sounds of battle and wondered, "How much worse can this get?" A few droplets of rain fell onto her skin through the canopy of the tall, emerald-green trees' leaves above them. Meilin grumbled, "And now there's going to be a rainstorm." The winds swiftly picked up their speeds and howled through the treetops as gray clouds replaced white ones. A bolt of lightning struck the crocodile behind them, creating another horrible roar behind them.

Meilin shoved strands of her own hair out of the way, as she peered through to see where Rollan was leading her. To her relief, he wasn't taking her towards any more Conquerors as she was in no condition to fight. Rather, he was taking her to a cave.

Rollan led her inside and took two pieces of flint out of his pocket as he picked up a handful of dry sticks laying nearby. "There," he said, "This should do. Meilin? C'mon, come inside."

Meilin didn't cross her arms rudely and hold a haughty expression. Rather, she still struggled and mumbled something about being ambushed, and even being worried about her "Gee".

Rollan simpered sympathetically and put his hand on Meilin's shoulder gently. "Hey, whoever this 'Geez' person is, I'm sure that he really cares about you."

Meilin almost snorted in laughter, "Okay, first of all, it's not a he; it's a she. Second of all, it's just my spirit animal, and I'm not dating anyone so I guess that I can't really care too much. Okay, Jhi, J-H-I, is my panda, but I can't say that she's so great, because so far, all she can do is munch on bamboo stalks and stare at me with heartbreaking eyes. I guess that I still do care about her though for some reason."

Rollan's heart almost did a little dance to find out that this pretty girl wasn't dating anyone, but he definitely wasn't dating someone so haughty. Rollan strode to the back of the cave that was barely lit by the flickering fire and remarked, "Hmm… this gives me an idea." He pulled out his journal, which he had been drawing in since his escape from the orphanage. He used to draw hideous scribbles in this journal, being a silly kid, but now he was putting his mother's gift to good use. HIs heart wrenched at the thought of his mother, but abruptly, he heard Meilin say, "What's that?"

Rollan gulped as he hastily tried to stuff it away, "Nothing."

"Let me see it!" demanded Meilin, "It can't be that embarrassing."

"Uh, no," shouted Rollan over the howling of the rain and wind outside. The next thing he knew, he was in a wrestling match with this girl as she pounced onto him, grabbed his wrist and turned over his bag. Rollan tried to keep the bag closed, but the contents fell out with the clasp unlocked. Books thumped upon his face as he yelped as each ink bottle, and edge of a book fell onto him, even the hilt of one of his hidden daggers hit him on the nose and stunned him. Rollan rubbed his sore face as he got up and saw all the contents strewn everywhere; he couldn't tell where his journal had went.

"Ah-ha!" shouted Meilin triumphantly as she held up his journal in the weak lighting.

Essix practically danced on her rock-perch too as she peered into Rollan's journal too.

Meilin gasped. The contents were unexpected. "Wow, your drawings are so good!" she cried as she flipped through his book.

"Hey, be careful with it," lamented Rollan as he peered over Meilin's head to catch a glimpse of which drawings she was looking at.

"Wow!" gasped Meilin, "The panda in this picture almost seems to breathe."

"At least you're not criticizing it," exhaled Rollan. His whole life, he'd been mocked for even holding a quill and pondering about what to draw. His orphan cronies had laughed at him when he had first pulled it out. The guy who owned the orphanage swatted the book out of his hands when he decided to draw during his small break. Villagers laughed at him and shooed him away from their shops when he tried to sell his drawings (which weren't that good at the time, consisting of scribbles which he considered was grass and water). He had managed to practice in secret though, and before he received his bag, he had been burying his booklet and taking it out in candlelight.

Meilin yapped, "Why would I criticize it? These drawings are fit for museums!"

"You think so?" replied Rollan hopefully.

"You need to ask?" scoffed Meilin, "Of course. I've never seen such detail within this panda's surroundings. You'd outmaster the masters!" She flipped the page, excited for more.

Rollan smiled, it was one of his most recent drawings. He hadn't drawn since he was back at the Conquerors' campsite. It was the one of Essix, flying within the sunlight. She was just a silhouette up there, but her magnificence and radiance up there was captivating. Essix practically danced behind them, seeing herself as an inspiration in this drawing as Meilin and Rollan gaped and laughed.

Lightning struck as thunder rolled outside, and abruptly, the moan of bears could be heard. The silhouettes of bears appeared as they entered, sopping wet from the storm.

Meilin gasped, "Rollan, you didn't tell me that this cave was already inhabited by someone else now, was there?"

Rollan gulped, "I- I didn't know."

The pair of bears appeared into the light and Meilin gasped, "Jhi!" She hadn't felt her presence, but she was thrilled to see that Jhi was alive and safe. The bear was Barlow's next to her, and Jools, the brown bear, groaned in despair to see the two so happy.

Essix cawed sympathetically. She instantly had understood what the bear had said. It was hopeless. He had lost his owner and was heartbroken to see someone else have what he did not.

Rollan understood what Essix had thought, and patted the alone bear softly as Essix did not mind, and did not get jealous. Rollan sympathetically said, "I'm so sorry, Jools. If you ever want us, we're here for you, buddy." Jools groaned and nudged Rollan with his wet nose before squashing him underneath a bear hug as Meilin laughed and also squashed Rollan even further while hugging Jools' wet fur. Jhi also approached Jools and nudged him as the bear almost half-smiled. Meilin was glad to see the two bears get along so well, that she gave them some time, and went back to the drawings. As she flipped through blank pages disappointedly, she told Rollan, "You know, I've always wondered how Barlow got so close with Jools. Sorry, Jhi, but I'm not seeing it between us yet. You know that I've always wanted to prove myself, and you're not exactly helping."

Rollan told Meilin, "Well, you can't say that she's useless. Essix does care for me, so I'm sure that Jhi cares for you too."

"I'm not saying that Jhi is useless!" snapped Meilin.

Rollan replied, "Well, she's not careless either."

Meilin lamented, "I didn't say that!"

The two were having such a heated argument that Essix was swinging her head side to side, deciding whether being out in the storm was better, or being stuck in a cave where an argument was practically heating the room was better.


	8. Strike of Surprise

**Author's Note** : Sorry that it took so long to come up with the next part. I actually ran into a few "Writer's Blocks" and it took me quite a while to figure out where I wanted to go in this current scene. Don't worry, I already have Ch. 9 & 10 figured out, and it definitely will be longer. This chapter, though, was definitely a struggle between action and not making Reilin seem impossible. Ironically, my summer is busier than when I'm in school!

Essix tiptoed to the edge of the stone cave where the flickering firelight couldn't catch her. Once she felt that she was out of sight, with two flaps of her wings, she blew the air behind her and took off into the stormy night sky. She wasn't sure if Rollan had seen or sensed her departure, but she didn't care about that too much.

Meilin and Rollan's argument had gone too far, beyond her reach of where she could stop them. Their debate was about their spirit animals, and not wanting to heat the argument, Essix could not take sides. After all, the argument was about her and Jhi.

Essix swerved in the dark night sky and bobbed against the strong winds. Bolts of lightning split and lit up the night sky as the thunder roared behind it.

Essix wondered whether the enormous crocodile, back in their battle, had perished within the clashing of blades. Essix also wondered whether she could get a roasted scrap of the crocodile. Essix licked her lips, no, her beak, while she wondered about how a barbequed piece of crocodile might taste like. She thought, "I could cook it with a bolt of lightning!" She could already imagine herself with a chef's poofy hat and a funny apron, like what the Amayan chefs had, as she cooked with a bolt of lightning.

Suddenly, Essix felt the air tingle as the tips of her feathers began rising. Essix realized, "Thunderbolt!" She dove into safety just in the nick of time as a bolt of lightning crashed down behind her, where she was a second ago. The bolt of lightning tore into the soft dirt, leaving a massive crater behind. Essix rubbed her head with the tip of her wing as she thought, "Be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it." The rumbling storm didn't really bother her; Essix had seen worse before, long before human civilization existed.

The wind continued howling, but its speed began to slow as Essix dipped towards the ground, her wings getting heavier by the minute from pattering rainwater. She drifted lower and lower underneath the canopy of whistling trees. The tips of her feathers brushed some dirt off the ground, before they were washed away immediately by the streams of rain.

With the dying wind, Essix expected to hear the echoes of Meilin and Rollan's argument grow louder, but to her astonishment, she was wrong!

"Too bad," thought Essix, "If they had gotten any louder, then the wolves would hear us, and that would be a _good_ thing, because then Briggan could find us. Actually, what would they do with us, since Rollan and I are still Conquerors? Keep us hostage? _Pah!_ By that time, Sensei Essix would've taught him bird, Kung-Fu moves!" Essix cackled pridefully as she threw some moves from her "birdy Kung-Fu".

Suddenly, Essix heard a roar, before a flash of lightning had sparked.

"Wait, did the thunder just come before the lightning?!" Essix thought, before she suddenly saw a hulking figure stalk out from the dark silhouettes of the trees. Before she could bring herself to a halt, _pah!_ Essix felt herself being batted out of the sky; she hit the ground below her hard, sending pebbles skittering everywhere. And as she blinked and began to lose consciousness, she saw the hulking figure watch her suffer. And just as the lights went out, she heard the true roar of the thunder.


	9. Head Over Heels

**Author's Notes** : When I did not consult my beta reader, a.k.a. My youngest brother, before I published the previous chapter, that was a bad idea. He gave me some good points of where I needed to improve on chapter 8, so I've made a few edits to that on June 29th, 2019. I just had to add more action to chapter 8. The only thing I basically added was Essix almost getting struck by a lightning bolt. Also, note that I will also have to raise the rating from K+ to a T due to the fact that death is not suitable for children, nor is the beginning of romance. Meanwhile, trust me on this: The next few chapters will definitely be a lot better, since I've been planning them for _months_! So enjoy the story— and the cliffhangers! :3

Essix's view was blurry as she opened her eyes. She blinked once, then twice, before she aroused with a startle. She half-expected to be swinging in a metal cage again that dangled on a chain attached to a rooftop as mocking Conquerors laughed at her.

She breathed with relief though, when she saw Jhi sitting up, and next to Jools, the brown bear. Jools nudged Essix with concern. Essix winced a bit where her she had been nudged. Apparently, that was where her sore beak had been smacked at when she was in the storm.

Essix took in her surroundings; she was back in the stone cave. The light of the fire was still here, and it was no longer being throttled harshly by the wind. The rain still pitter-pattered outside, but it no longer roared like a waterfall. She was astonished to find Meilin and Rollan no longer bickering. Rather, they were sleeping with peaceful expressions on their faces.

Meilin mumbled a bit as she exhaled a small puff of air gently in her sleep. She rolled onto one side now, facing Essix, and her dark strands of hair cascaded down her face as her some strands were gently rocked by the wind.

A short distance away, Rollan snorted a bit in his sleep as beads of sweat dripped down his face. He was sleeping way too close to the fire, and the flames were overheating him in his metal suit.

Essix expected that Rollan was about to wake up any second now from being coming so hot. The drops of sweat became streams, and she had no clue currently of how Rollan even managed to sleep in a suit of metal armor!

"Either he's not afraid to get supercharged by the lightning outside, or he wants to bake himself like a potato in tin foil!" concluded Essix.

Abruptly, Rollan turned in his sleep and landed belly-flat onto their campfire, sending charred sticks rolling and being crushed into smears of ashes. Jools bellowed in terror and leapt away as a flaming stick chased him, while Jhi just continued sitting still in her place. Essix flapped her wings and squawked in terror, diving immediately at Rollan, as he was still asleep. Rollan, meanwhile, showed no sign of reacting to pain as he did not stir, but only continued mumbling in his sleep.

Essix cawed in panic as she saw red marks appearing on Rollan's armor as she dug for his shirt collar. The tips of her talons finally found what she was looking for, and she drew out the collar, torn from earlier. Essix began to drag the boy off of the flames, but the longer she did so, she felt the requirement, of needing more might, wearing at her even more with every tug. She heard the skittering and the snapping of sticks as she could feel her breath shortening, as her pace slowed from this heavy weight. Sure, Rollan was a malnourished orphan in Amaya, but would his lighter weight save his life? Essix doubted it. At the thought of defeat, Essix tugged even harder at the collar. To her dismay though, this caused Rollan's shirt collar to snap, sending her flying to the ground. Essix bowed in defeat as her sore beak kept continuously pounding rhythms. She had to keep trying, but suddenly, Jhi groaned and put her paw out, signalling Essix to stop. Jhi then lumbered over to a red-hot Rollan, and began rolling him towards the mouth of the cave.

"Couldn't you have done that earlier?" mumbled Essix, keeping herself flat on the floor in her agony. Before she could get up and dust herself off, Jhi rolled Rollan over Essix, and flattened Essix underneath. Essix squabbled in terror, before she gasped for air when she was done being flattened under Rollan. The pour of rain out there immediately cooled down Rollan's armor and drenched him. The red, hot marks turned to black, charred prints as Essix watched. To her disbelief though, Rollan still had not awakened yet after he had practically been baked, on fire, and drenched! The color still remained in his cheeks though, so he was clearly alive, but something now clicked into Essix's mind. She squawked in accusation, "What is the meaning of this, Jhi?! You did this, now didn't you? It was you who dragged me back to the cave after you knocked me out! It was you who put these two into an abnormal sleep now didn't you? Both of these kids are pretty stubborn, so without your powers, there is no way that they could've suddenly ceased!"

Jhi raised her head to face Essix when she had finished rolling Rollan back inside. Pebbles left their imprints on Rollan's face, as a dazed look was frozen on his face. Essix picked bits of dirt and grass out of his hair as she faced Jhi reproachfully. Jhi's silver eyes hinted a bit of anguish in them, but the peaceful sounds of her voice translated to, "Careful where your sole, torch's flame goes, Essix. You seem pained, but if you calm down for a moment, then someday, you may discover that we both can feel the same way. Bonded to our partners, hurting inside, yet accidentally hurting them too sometimes. Each other's lives at stake forever. Jools carries the guilt just as we may if we do not save who we care about most. I did not hurt any of you because we are on different sides. We are on the same side after all. You will know how I feel, Essix, though I won't share the specifics with you currently."

Essix squawked in confusion at her thoughts about it, "Not sharing ideas?! But we were on the same side in the last, Devourer War! Know how you feel, but won't tell me now? What do you mean?!" Essix's head spun as her beak ached. She gritted her teeth, no, her beak, as she felt contempt for Jhi, who had created this injury.

Suddenly, she saw Jhi twitching, and slowly, Jhi heaved herself to take heavy steps as Jools whimpered in panic, but with a quick touch of her paw, Jools collapsed into a deep sleep, before Essix met the same fate. With a swipe of Jhi's paw, Essix felt the confusion vanish from her mind, before her mind felt heavy. Essix squawked in agony as she refused to fall into a forced sleep. Her heart felt as if was torn into pieces as what her former friend and battle teammate had practically turned against her. With a thump, her head landed onto the cavern's floor and she spun into what was supposed to be a peaceful nap.

[Later…]

Essix awoke with a startle… again! Except this time, she didn't get to shake herself awake— Rollan was already doing that for her.

Rollan took Essix by the wing joints and shook her, "Hey! Hey, Essix! Wake up."

Essix cawed with fatigue after she had almost been struck by a lightning bolt back in the storm. Her stomach grumbled as it did back at her meeting with Jhi. She cawed, "Let me go back to sleep," as she rubbed her sore head. She was seriously going to lose her mind if she got smacked in the head one more time. Essix was about to lie back down, before Rollan shook her one more time, "C'mon. Essix, please don't go back to sleep with those crazy dreams, or flashbacks, or whatever… I felt as if I was there though, while I was asleep! I- I was in something like a ghostly form when I saw a piece of Meilin's memory. Her- her Nectar Ceremony had gotten attacked, as we… I can't believe it! The Conquerors are supposed to end the monopoly of Nectar, but they crossed the line and burnt her home to the ground! Jhi was right, every side had done some cruelty to each others. Jhi only put us both to sleep when Meilin and I were actually trying to convince each others to join each other's side. I guess she has a reason why she wouldn't join the Conquerors, just as I refused to join the Greencloaks.

Rollan's eyes gazed down at the stone floor sorrowfully. Essix could see that he was haunted by something else he saw. She sensed his thoughts and found that he still had a clear memory of one of Meilin's maids being killed. Apparently, the maid had attempted to dive for safety, but was brutally slain by an arrow that got twisted into her neck. That wasn't just the only piece of abominable brutality there was. "Oh, well," thought Essix, "I guess this is why you don't join the Conquerors."

Rollan whispered to himself, as he had his head down, "I can't believe how Meilin could take this all within one day!"

Essix murmured, "Yes, yes, Rollan. At least your nightmares are over now." Essix knew that it actually wasn't a nightmare though; she could now truly confirm that Jhi's memory-sharing powers had taken a toll on all of them.

Rollan cried, "Wait, no, Essix! Okay, my point is that Meilin is in danger! Not just in my dream, but right now too. She's gone, Essix, and so is Jhi."

"Wait, what?!" squawked Essix, as she sat up quickly, eyes open and alert. Rollan was right; both Hi and Meilin were gone. "This isn't good," squawked Essix, transmitting messages to Rollan's mind now, "what if she went to get an army of Greencloaks on us?" Rollan shook his head, "No, I trust her. Besides, she wouldn't need an army to kick my butt."

"Oooh! Ya, right. You just trust her because she's _hot_ , now isn't she?" snickered Essix.

"No," Rollan said solidly, "... okay she is honestly hot, but Essix, I trust her because she does have a heart somewhere. She just needs a bit of care, since she's been moved away from her parent, just as I have been."

Essix couldn't argue with that, since Rollan had lost his mother at a young age. In her head, she tittered though, "Ya, cross the word, 'care,' out of that sentence and replace it with, 'love'. So it's 'She just needs a bit of love from you!' Hahahaha hah!"

Jools suddenly called to them out of the corner. Essix hadn't noticed him earlier, but he definitely hadn't been outside, since he wasn't soaking wet or matted in mud.

Jools frantically dashed to the front of the cave, and signalled them to come along with him too.

"C'mon!" ordered Rollan, "Let's go!"

Essix felt a sudden urge tug at her, and she practically levitated off the ground without even flapping her wings! She hovered towards Rollan with a ridiculous look on her face, before she finally began to get her wings to move.

The next thing that Essix knew, they were following Jools through a filthy forest. The enormous storm had gone away, but its messy trail was left behind. Rollan had already sunk into muddy puddles _twice_ , that were waist-deep. Without Jools, Essix doubted that she would've ever been able to get Rollan out of this mess all by herself. Rollan was caked in so much mud though, that Essix thought that he looked like he had tried to bake a cake, and frosted himself with chocolate icing!

Rollan had practically become a mud pie at this point, as only hints of his metal armor were showing, and his face. He could feel the sticks that were stuck to him in his hair, and more leaves drifting down in the air, and sticking to him. Rollan groaned as Jools seemed to know the way, as he sniffed the air, that was clogged with falling leaves.

Jools led them on with a few gestures of his paw, or with a swing of his head.

Suddenly, through a clearing in the darkness of the night, they saw...

"Meilin!" Rollan cried panic-strickenly. Rollan ran towards the damsel in distress, but he slipped in the unusually wet environment. Rollan slid on his bottom, but stopped just in time by pressing his legs against the muddy ground. "Whoa!" he gasped, when he was finished with skidding on the ground. Pebbles bounced off in front of them, and Rollan could hear their echoes as they hit what looked like eternal darkness. This darkness below his feet was darker than the night's darkness. The gorgeous, night sky was dimly lit by twinkling stars, but the darkness below his feet gave off an ominous feeling of danger.

This was a tragic fall of thousands of feet, and Meilin was right on the edge of walking off the rocky crag!

Meilin was clearly sleepwalking, as her hands were outstretched, making a 'T' shape, and she was walking with her legs straight. Jhi was in front of her, trying to stop Meilin from walking off by blocking her pathway. Meilin just kept on walking around Jhi though, and heading towards imminent danger

"Meilin, stop!" yelled Rollan, his hand outstretched. Jhi couldn't stop Meilin in time, so Rollan got up from the slick mud, and dived towards her, but his body suddenly froze in midair, crunched up, and collapsed! Rollan dropped into a puddle, filling his mouth with mud as Essix also tried approaching Meilin. Hi, Essix, and Rollan all froze though, suddenly unable to move as they were all trying their hardest to move. They threw threw heads around, trying to arouse their brain and muscles, but it was useless.

Desperate to fight his sudden paralysis, Rollan threw his own body around as he watched the stars spin around him. Out of the bottom edge of his eye, he saw Meilin tip over the edge of the crag...


	10. Love Surprises

**Author's Note** : Thank you for your patience everyone, and I bet that you must've loved the last cliffhanger! :3 Just kidding! Anyway, I'm sorry for not posting for so long, but Y'all can appreciate how I hand-wrote this chapter first, then typed it, and then proofread it three times! In the meantime, thank you this time though to GreencloakJess, daughterofhadesneeksdiangelo, and Tsukuyomi125 for your subscriptions! It was all of you who finally drove me to keep this story up, while also being hit by math homework like a hurricane! Also, I didn't notice this earlier, but happy birthday to my fanfiction! Congrats to my story, which has now survived for about a year and a half! Meanwhile, this is going to be the first chapter that is going to make this story officially rated T, due to minor romance themes, and a small increase of bloodshed later. Romance obviously does not fit in the K section anymore, nor does a larger amount of blood. Therefore, because I abide by the age rating rules pretty seriously, then I'm going to have to raise the rating to a T. Don't worry though, you can put your faith in me, because I won't have anything inappropriate happen for sure, but enjoy the increase of love-shipping Relin. :D Without further ado, enjoy the benchmark, that has been set by us, of our tenth chapter… and the facepalm-worthy actions of our lovely, Spirit Animals couple! :3 Love brings surprises around the corner!

Rollan hollered, "No!" as Meilin made the perilous fall. She fell out of their reach and disappeared into the darkness. Rollan couldn't watch this anymore. He bowed his head and let his dark strands of hair cover his face. Refusing to believe this, he forced himself to use all his might, and used his fist to strike the dirt beneath him, as he felt his own, moist tears cover his face.

A small rainstorm begun. A few raindrops splattered in his hair, while Rollan tried to swallow the feeling of horror. How could he just let her fall? Why did he suddenly hesitate in his attempt to save her?! Rollan threw his hair wildly and cried out in anguish, as he let the stars spin around him, while he shook his head. It was difficult to drag his muscles into doing what he wanted, as he was still frozen in place. He was practically wrestling himself in place now, before he forced himself into a kneeling position and peeled his eyes open.

He didn't peer behind himself, but he could hear Jhi moan in grief. He could also sense that Essix was still struggling to even keep her own eyes open, while she was shaking and squawking behind him.

Rollan listened to his own shuddering, heavy breathing. He had created a mistake that he could never fix, but if there was one thing that he could do right, he resolved that it would be to find Meilin's body, and bring it back home.

With unanticipation, Rollan suddenly found himself staring at a set of teeth that suddenly appeared and flashed in the dark of the night, before it the owner of them, dashed off. The set of teeth belonged to a hulking figure, which swiftly used its four legs to bound over the edge of the cliff! It reared back, and slowly used its hind legs to drag itself back up, sending dirt particles flying from underneath its feet. And unexpectedly, what returned with him was…

"Meilin!" shouted Rollan exhilaratingly.

At this heartening surprise, Rollan promptly broke out of his paralysis, and dashed towards Meilin's slumped figure. He pulled her back up with Jools, her savior, and together, they propped her up gently against a twisted tree trunk. Jools let go of his nip on Meilin's collar, before he strode aside to let Rollan analyze her condition.

Jhi sprung over too, after she and Essix broke out of their trance too. Jools let go of his grip on Meilin's collar when Jhi nudged him affectionately, before Essix soared into the air.

Rollan observed Essix's strength, as she took off at such speed in the darkness. Afterward, he then settled down, and watched after Meilin. Rollan gazed at Meilin, as he heard her soft breathing again. It was such a relief that she was alive, but what she clearly needed now was someone's care.

Rollan edged towards Meilin and kneeled down gently, before he brushed her bangs aside. The light rainstorm had now strengthened a bit, causing more raindrops to land on Meilin's eyelashes. Rollan gently wiped off the raindrops as they plopped onto Meilin's eyelids. He secretly admired her beauty, while he revived the memory of how close he was to losing her. He would've never heard her breathing again, nor would he ever have a chance to hear her laughter. Rollan wondered how her laughter might sound, as he pursed his parched lips together. This gave him the reminder that they needed to retrieve food and water at some point.

Besides him, Jhi, the Great Panda, and Jools, the brown bear, made eye contact with each other about this couple in front of them. They snorted and smiled mischievously at the pair, before they lumbered off at a quiet caw from Essix. Meilin was slowly regaining consciousness, as she was groggily blinking. She then raised a hand to her head and groaned from pain, as she rubbed it.

Rollan was watching Meilin doing this, as they rested underneath a crooked tree, that was barren of leaves. Unexpectedly, he saw that Meilin's eyes flashed, and she lashed out at him! Rollan yowled, "Ow! What was that for?" when Meilin high-kneed him, and he felt the blow on his chin, sending him plunging back.

Meilin jerked up into a sitting position and stopped leaning against the tree. Her senses has awakened, and she discovered Rollan rubbing his chin and wincing. After observing their situation, Meilin proposed that it might've been constant, sudden impulse to fight. She clapped a hand to her mouth, before saying, "Oh! Rollan, I'm so sorry!"

Rollan rubbed his bruised chin and snorted with good cheer, "Ya, well glad that you're alright. You were sleepwalking earlier, and I… Well, Jools saved you, before you struck me; probably because you thought that I was a spooky tree or something. But the next time that I try and save you, I'll stand back a mile away, when you're safe, or else I'll get hit again."

Meilin smirked at his comment on her might, before that expression disappeared. She rubbed her arm, as she somehow felt a bit reluctant to apologize, but of course it was wrong to hurt her defender. Meilin thought, "Defender? Did I just really use that word? I don't need a bodyguard." She relived the memories of when father had always insisted that she should take an escort and a bodyguard with her, back in Zhong. This had all changed though, when she could prove that she could defend herself. When her father had excused her bodyguards and escorts, she still remembered the baffled expressions on their faces, as these workmen found it peculiar of why a pompous girl did not need any caretakers. They said nothing as they had their departure though. Shortly, Meilin found herself staring awkwardly into Rollan's eyes. They cast emotionless expressions at each other as if they were having a staring contest, since neither turned away from each other's gaze.

Overhead, Essix had returned and she cawed, "Aww, what did I miss between you two, hmm?"

Rollan blinked twice and stopped gawking at Meilin, before he looked up at Essix and insisting sternly, "Nothing, Essix."

Essix made a spiral in the air, before she landed on a tree branch and nodded skeptically, "Uh-huh…"

Rollan didn't catch Essix's skepticism, before asking, Did you find our cave?"

Essix fretted at their unwillingness to answer, "I think so, and I'll lead you to it— under one condition. If you tell me what you and your pretty Miss Fiancé were doing here, then…"

Rollan declared in a warning tone, "Essix…"

Essix sighed, "Okay, fine. Come along, and I'll lead you to your wedding arch… I mean, your nice, curvy cave."

Rollan rolled his eyes and exclaimed, "Good. Now, everyone else, please follow along, since I don't want you to get left behind."

Essix tittered, "Ya, and you especially don't want to leave Meilin behind."

Rollan scoffed and ignored that, knowing that it was going to take a while, or an eternity, for a persistent Essix to stop.

Shortly, Meilin found herself trudging alongside Rollan, as Essix was leading them back to their cave up ahead, while she flapped her great pair of wings. The pair of bears behind them were keeping guard, as they made snorts of air of laughter behind them.

Unfocusing for that short moment though, would cost Meilin her dignity for a while. Her boot had unexpectedly got caught by something, and she lurched forward violently. She gasped with pain and looked down to find that the loose tendrils of a tree had wrapped around her leg. She tugged at the wild mess, but that only made her other foot stumble, and cause another pang of pain to shoot up her leg. The next thing that she knew was her unsuccessful attempt at tugging at the tangle of roots had backfired. Her whole body had been thrown off-balance, and with her back facing her hill, she began to topple down from the top of the hill. The gnarled roots of the tree still laid entangled at her feet, and they held on for a moment, before they released Meilin. This sudden release caused Meilin to accidentally jab her knee into Rollan, causing him to tumble with her! The weight of the two finally caused the roots to sever completely, seeing them both somersaulting down the hill together!

The two of them fell with shrieks and shouts of anguish, while they slid and rolled down the muddy hill, which was previously soaked by rain. They finally managed to reach the bottom of the grubby hill, and sprawl out. Rollan immediately and began wiping his tongue quickly, spatting out tads of mud. He coughed and sputtered as he did this, while Meilin finally opened one eyelid anxiously after their perilous fall, before getting up into a sitting position.

Their faces were mucky, and covered with mud and remains of dead plants, as leaves were strewn in their hair, almost as if they were treetops. Meilin shrieked, when she finally finished taking in her surroundings, and found that she had landed right on top of Rollan's belly! She took her arms off of his shoulder and chest, and leapt off of him, almost as if she'd been shocked by something. For a moment, it also took Rollan to regain his senses, and he also leapt away from Meilin, when he realized what had happened. Meilin turned as red as Rollan, and thought that she could also see her arms get a glow of pink too.

Rollan's face was stuck in a shocked, yet dazed expression, before his face softened and he charmingly asked, as he brushed some soil out of his hair, "Are you okay? I'd rather that you'd crush me, than land on top of some rocks and cut your darling, um… hair! Ya, hair! That's what I meant." Rollan rubbed his head and broke into an absurd grin, as he reviewed his clumsy choice of words, when he really meant 'face,' instead of 'hair'.

Meilin face-palmed herself so hard at that terrible line, that it sent dirt particles tumbling out of her sordid hair. She pulled a twig out of her hair, as she was tempted to whap him for that, but seeing his grin, she relaxed, before releasing herself from her fighting stance, and… laughed along with him too. She ran her fingers through her hair, as she tried to recall when was the last time that she had a good laugh, since she had boarded onto a ship to Greenhaven. Part of her wanted to grumble about how she would not have whined, if she did land amongst the rocks instead, but seeing that smile of his was definitely better than seeing another worried face in the crowds. She laughed back and commented, "Ya, and nice… um…" She scratched her mangy hair, before she finally thought of how to complete the sentence. "Laugh?" she completed, and they both started giggling at how absurd they seemed, before Essix party-crashed!

Essix squawked excitedly, "Oo, oo! No, I know a better word! How about using 'lips,' instead of 'laugh'?!"

When Rollan's face fell at Essix's mental message, Meilin's did too, as she felt that something was off. They both ended up staring at Essix, knowing that she was messing with their connection.

An aghast expression was stuck on Rollan's face, before Essix squawked while she beat her wings against the air, "What? I'm being realistic for you, lovebirds."

Rollan began to inch away from Meilin to try and make Essix stop. Meilin looked at his action painstakingly, before she decided to too, feeling that they both weren't acting like… like friends anymore?

Secretly, Essix didn't need to use her vision to know that both had a small blush appearing on their cheeks in their shadows, as they both reviewed their moment, before they had turned away from each other. Essix shook her head at these timid lovebirds, she landed on Rollan's shoulder, and tried to urge him to turn around to face Meilin. Unfortunately, they only dived farther away, when the pair of bears came rolling down the hill at the speed of a horse-drawn cart! Essix sighed as they only got themselves dirtier, than happier.

Meilin sighed, before she could come up with another response, before an unanticipated whistle could be heard above them. Meilin peered upwards, and saw that Essix was pursing her beak into an 'O' shape, and was doing a little dance on Rollan's shoulder. Meilin wanted to giggle a bit, but she only managed to glare at Essix for splitting them up earlier. Plus, seeing that Rollan was wincing with every moment that Essix's claws were landing on his shoulder blade was more piteous, than funny.

Essix shook her wings even more frantically, and began attempting to whistle faster… no, she wasn't whistling, she was…

Meilin put a hand on her hip, before jabbing a finger towards Essix and demanding, "Don't you shush me!"

Essix narrowed her eyes, and looked away, as she felt annoyed by this girl, who just swung her dark hair behind her arrogantly. She then pulled her beak into what a bird's scowl, while she kept attempting to shush them. To her misfortune, she was a bird, so of course it was hard for a bird to make a 'shhh' sound with her beak. Therefore, all that Essix could do was keep on making a whistling noises to them, even though she thought that her puny whistles sounded more like wind that was howling in the trees.

Rollan used the sleeve of his frayed shirt to wipe debris off of his face, before he used his arm to cover his face. He called, "Okay, okay, Essix. We get your warning. Now can you please stop spitting at us?"

Essix squawked in shock, "First, it's not the word, 'can,' it's 'may'. Second, ew, I'm not spitting!"

Rollan stated, "Okay, then tell us what you saw, Essix; it sounds urgent. And Essix, I thought that you'd be keeping guard by looking out for trouble, not leading us to it!"

Essix pecked, "Oh ya, maybe I shouldn't let you know of how I kinda' failed my job then. And er… it wasn't my fault anyway, since both of you managed to tumble down the wrong side of the hill anyway!"

An ounce of irritation began to come down on Rollan, and he began tapping his toes at Essix's untruthfulness, "Essix… I know that you know the truth, so spill it."

Essix let out a bird's sigh, before she squawked and began transmitting more messages to Rollan's mind. She laughed in a taunting voice, "Okay, you asked for it. So sorry, Rollan, but I was distracting from scouting, because I was busy daydreaming about if you ever had a wedding, then what type of flowers should I shower you and Mei— I mean, you mystery bride with?"

Rollan bounced back at that message, confusing everyone else, for they had not heard Essix's message, but they saw Rollan's reaction. Rollan exclaimed, "Okay, if that's the truth, then I don't want to hear it."

Essix squawked, "Told you so."

All of a sudden, their quarrel was halted by some unexpected noises. Across from them, the shrubbery's leaves began to rustle, before a twig snapped amidst. Within an instant, to the small group's despair, a pair of Conquerors had emerged.


	11. Trial of Silence

**Dedications** : Thank you to Ravimar this time for being supportive of this story! It really helps me understand how much readers truly do care about my story, and drives me to keep on writing! :D

After the rustling from the bushes and the two Conquerors' appearance, Meilin's group froze for a moment, before they all dived for cover. Meilin watched as Rollan dived and slipped in between a small gap between two tree trunks, and she admired at how stealthy he was. Even in his suit of armor, he was so silent that she wouldnt've known if he was coming. She squatted down and just peeked through a small gap between the bushes. She didn't attempt to enter the bushes, for that would cause too much noise. However, the bears did attempt to enter the bushes next to a slanted tree trunk. They just awkwardly bumped and jostled each other, until half their bodies were covered by the bushes. Meilin nearly snorted in laughter at that. Those bears looked silly as their noses still poked out from the bushes' leaves, and their hindlegs were still poking out, and only hidden by the shade. Essix must've swooped into the treetops, as she left leaves skittering behind.

The bears groaned a bit and snorted leaves away that tickled their nose, before it went completely silent. Now, all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire, while the Conquerors entered the clearing. There stood one, burly man in chainmail armor just like Rollan's. Meilin winced at the thought of Rollan, while she tried not to think about him. She glanced at his hiding place, but could not even find his silhouette, before she averted her eyes away from his spot. She made a sigh that almost sounded disappointed. She had to remember that he was a Conqueror and another guy, who was just on the opposing team. How could she ever trust him? Meilin shook her head, attempting to clear the thoughts, before she heard the man's boots kick at the dirt.

This new Conqueror, who had just appeared, was in his adulthood. He had scuffed, leather boots. His hair and long beard was just as filthy, as it was matted and filled with twigs, mud, and leaves. Meilin grimaced at that horrid mess. If ticks lived in that, then they would've thought that they were living in a forest! What was in the man's hand though then caught her eye. The thing that he was holding had a handle on top, but the rest of the rectangular frame of the supposed "box" was covered. Meilin thought she heard skittering, before a loud rustling came, and out burst a younger, and much thinner, nimble man.

Meilin ducked a bit more out of sight. The new, red-haired one tailed rapidly behind the first man. He was clearly eager about something, as he pleaded, "C'mon, c'mon! When are we gonna' do the experiment?"

The man with the dark, bushy, brown hair and beard snarled, "Shut yar trap, boy. Yar like a bouncy rabbit that's been mixed with a yappin' coyote. Anywar's, we're here now."

"Oo, so this is the testing grounds?" admired the tall, red-hair man, rubbing his hands together. He was dressed head-to-toe in leather. As energetic as he was, Meilin felt disturbed by him, as he swung his head side-to-side, taking in his surroundings. Clearly, this campground of theirs had been set up for something. A patched, dull, red tent had been set up insecurely on its metal poles, creating a triangular pose. A tree stump with a lantern on it stood nearby. At the center of the campground, there was a firepit, with a feeble flame flickering in it. The campground was surprisingly well-lit, even as the sun was descending in the distance, making it grow darker and darker. Three, roughly cut, log benches huddled around the campfire, as the men stayed standing.

Meilin shuffled closer and squinted to get a closer look. What could be in that covered box?

Suddenly, the red-haired man stated, "Did you hear something?"

Meilin froze and inhaled sharply. She began to feel uneasy. Everything began sounding louder, as the wind swept past, while a few leaves fell and brushed Meilin's face. Meilin suspected that Essix must've adjusted her grip on the tree branches above her, as she could hear something, besides the leaves. The bears stopped twitching, as they were most unfortunately, still half-hidden in place. Rollan could not be heard at all, as he was clearly the most experience with hiding. Meilin tensed and began fearing for the worst, "What Rollan truly wasn't in his hiding place after all?!" What if he was…

All of a sudden, a hand slapped to Meilin's mouth, alarming her and muffling any noise that she made.


End file.
